


Geniuses

by maderr



Category: Calvin & Hobbes, FoxTrot
Genre: Art, College, M/M, Pranks, nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 14:09:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10900974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maderr/pseuds/maderr
Summary: Jason is on his way home from class one night when he chances across some fraternity jerks harassing another student--a cute, quiet student who makes awesome snowman sculptures and seems to share Jason's penchant for mischief and mayhem.





	1. Geniuses

**Author's Note:**

> This is an OLD OLD OLD story I wrote forever and a day ago, so it's not very polished or anything, the writing is not like my writing now. But I had requests to put here on AO3 for peeps and I like to oblige where I can. Pardon any errors, etc.
> 
> <3 <3 <3

"Assholes," Jason muttered as he watched three frat boys wreck the snow sculptures in front of the art building. Well, he assumed they were frat boys. One wore a hoody with the Theta Chi letters on it, and to the best of his knowledge fraternity types didn't generally hang around with non-fraternity types.

  
The elaborate snowmen they were currently destroying had started to appear right after the first real snow of the season—two whole feet!—and he'd been utterly captivated by them. His own snowmen had never been half so cool growing up. Because these weren't just snowmen, they were masterpieces. It sucked major that he'd never been able to catch the artist at work.

  
And now, coming back late from his student-teaching job in the computer lab, he was witness to the destruction of the sculptures by Stupid Drunken Frat Boys. It wasn't right—whoever had been making them obviously cared a lot. You didn't do stuff like that with snow just for kicks.

  
"That'll teach him," one of the guys said to his brothers, who laughed and drunkenly agreed with him. He shoved the head off a lovingly made female, and then set to work destroying her body. Various props were knocked off and lost in the snow.

  
Jason bit his lip, then decided to hell with it, and called out, "Hey!"

  
Three heads swiveled to look at him. "What do you want, geek?"

  
Jason fought not to roll his eyes. Honestly, did they think that was an insult? Well, they _were_ Greek boys. "What do you think you're doing?"

  
"None of your business, so get lost."

  
Whatever Jason might have said next, never got said. From inside the art building a figure came dashing out, a blur of black as he launched himself at the nearest vandal. "Get away, get away!" But the slender man was no match for the heavier builds and greater strength—not to mention numbers—of the three.

  
"Fuck this," Jason muttered. Reaching into his dark green parka, he whipped out his cell phone and scrolled through the saved numbers for campus security. A couple of minutes later he slid it back in his pocket. "Hey, meat-for-brains!" Three heads turned to look at him. "You've got two minutes before security arrives to bust your asses."

  
"What the fuck ever—" But even as the apparent leader spoke, the headlights of a familiar SUV appeared on the road. The three jerks scrambled, leaving their victim cursing in the snow.

 

Jason dashed toward the unfortunate young man. "Hey, man. Are you okay?"

  
Instead of answering, the other man fumbled in the snow to regain his footing. Jason gripped his arm and helped him up. On his head, the guy's black watch cap had been knocked askew. He righted it, then began looking around in the snow.

  
Jason frowned, confused, until he spotted the black scarf and mittens lying amidst the white. He retrieved them and handed them over, just as two men in campus security jackets approached them. "Who called?"

  
"Me," Jason replied.

  
"What's going on?"

  
The man in black remained mute, as Jason set about explaining what had happened.

  
One of the security officers looked at the young man. "These were your snowmen?"

  
"Yes," the young man said reluctantly. "Final project."

  
"Any idea why they might've done this?"

  
"I pissed them off in class earlier today."

  
Neither officer seemed terribly surprised, "You know who they were then? I think we have a pretty good idea anyway. The three from Theta Chi, right? At least this time you got a witness."

  
The young man nodded, and added the professor and class.

  
"All right. We'll look into it." The officer winked. "Figures it'd be you again, Calvin. Now both of you get back to your rooms, it's too cold and too late to be wandering around. Be careful."

  
"Yes, sir," Jason and Calvin responded.

  
But then Calvin turned back toward the art building, "I left my books and stuff inside," he explained. "Let me get them and I'll head back."

  
"I'll go with you," Jason said.

  
The officers hesitated, then nodded and made their way back to their car. "Alright, but make it quick. I'm serious Calvin, don't linger."

  
Inside, the two young men stamped their boots and shook off what snow had accumulated on their jackets. Then Calvin surprised Jason by unzipping his black ski jacket and hanging it up along with his mittens, scarf and watch cap.

  
Jason's mind was torn between "What is he doing?" and "Whoa, damn" He finally settled on the 'Whoa, damn.'

  
Calvin was hot. His hair wasn't the definite yellow of Jason's, but a dirty wheat blond—and messy as all get out. Most likely the brief fight in the snow and the watch cap had disheveled it. Jason thought it would be a shame if he ever neatened it; being messy suited Calvin.

  
He was skinny as anything. Suddenly Jason felt positively overweight, even though he knew he wasn't. The black jeans seemed barely capable of staying on the guy's hips, and even though he wore a red t-shirt over a long-sleeved black T you still could see the shape of his chest. His lips were turned down in a strange sort of pouty frown, and he had one of those faces girls described as "boyish and cute" that sent them into giggles whenever he smiled.

  
Though it didn't look like Calvin was the type to do a lot of smiling. Jason wasn’t sure how he knew, but he would put good money on it.

  
With his own yellow-blond hair neatly combed, and wearing jeans and a college sweatshirt that were both too big for him, Jason felt every inch his geeky self next to Calvin. "So you're the one who made those snowmen?" He stripped off his own winter gear as he spoke, then followed Calvin down the hall to the elevators.

  
Calvin looked at him, as if confused by the question. "Yeah."

  
"They're awesome."

  
For reply, Calvin just shrugged.

  
Jason frowned, but changed the subject. "Shouldn't you get those looked at? Don't they hurt?" he asked, indicating the bruises already beginning to discolor Calvin's face. There was one high on his left cheek, and another near his jaw. He reached out to stop him, startled when Calvin jerked roughly away.

  
"I'm fine," Calvin said curtly.

  
"You were just pummeled by three guys. I seriously doubt you're _fine."_

  
"Eh. They couldn't really get a good hit in what with the snow and ice and all. Plus I've got lots of practice blocking and dodging." Calvin paused, then asked, "Why are you following me?"

  
"Because I wanted to ask you about the sculptures. That and I seriously doubt the three blockheads have gone home like good little boys."

  
Calvin nodded, mashing the elevator button. "They're probably waiting at the end of the block. They always hide behind the bushes there, because you can't see anyone who's behind them and that's where I have to walk to get home."

  
"Those guys really don't like you, do they?"

  
They stepped onto the elevator as it chimed and opened. Calvin hit the button for the third floor, "They're morons." The ghost of a smirk flitted across Calvin's lips, gone almost before Jason caught it. "They don't like when I point that out in class. Especially since they can never quite figure out how I do it without actually saying the word moron."

  
Jason grinned. "That's great. What in the heck are they doing in your art classes anyway? A project like that, you must be a senior?"

  
"Junior. I'm not in the class, I help teach it. It's an intro class so there are always tons of non-majors taking it for general credit. The professor was out sick today so..." Calvin shrugged.

  
"So they thought they could get away with bugging you more than usual."

  
Calvin stared at him a moment, and Jason blinked at how intense and focused his brown eyes were. Like they saw everything. He hoped that wasn't true, because he was pretty sure Calvin wouldn't like the direction of his thoughts. He stepped off the elevator as it chimed and opened, long legs carrying him rapidly down the hallway to the classroom where he'd apparently left his things.

  
Jason stood watching him a moment, distracted by the view, then scrambled to catch up. "So how long did the sculptures take you? How do you do it? Will you be able to fix them?"

  
Calvin paused in packing up his books to stare at him again. Jason fought not to squirm—that gaze was really something. "Do you really like them?"

  
"Hell yeah! I used to try to make snowmen like that all the time as a kid." Jason grinned. "But I was never much of an artist. Computer geek through and through, me."

  
"They're not that hard to make," Calvin said. "It just takes a long time, especially if the snow isn't quite right. I was really lucky that the first snowfall was perfect. Of course now those asses have completely ruined it." He raked a hand through his already messy hair. He moved to the windows that overlooked the front of the building, looking almost sad as he stared down at the ruins of his project.

  
"Will it take you long to repair them?"

  
"The way they went about it, I'll just have to finish the destruction and start all over. They won't look the same if I just fix them." Calvin banged his head lightly over and over against the glass. "Bastards."

 

Jason made sympathetic noises, recalling all too well the frustration he felt whenever Paige had decided it would be amusing to topple some of his creations. Of course generally he'd asked for it by putting something vile in her dresser or feeding one of her sweaters to Quincy, but it had been depressing all the same.

  
Calvin seemed disinclined to continue speaking. Jason left him alone, and instead let his gaze wander idly over the room. He'd never really been in the art building beyond attending the occasional lecture held in the large lecture hall on the ground floor.

  
Several paintings lined the far wall, from bizarre abstract works he rolled his eyes at to some tragic lake thing obviously painted by some emo freshman, a few still life pieces…and he almost missed the one shoved into the corner.

  
Jason knew enough about paintings to realize this one still needed some shading and detail work, though at a glance it would probably appear done to most people. It was oddly cute, amidst all the more "serious" subjects being done by the rest of the art students.

  
It was an outdoor scene, a close-up of the trunk of a large tree, the ends of a rope ladder trailing down to end next to a beat up little red wagon. Whoever had owned the wagon had used it enthusiastically, to judge from the scratches and dents and how little of the red paint remained. Sitting in the wagon was a worn and obviously well loved stuffed tiger. Scattered in and around the wagon were various items—a couple of sandwiches, a compass, some unfilled water balloons... It looked like a child had wandered away for a moment, leaving his toys with plans to return very soon. Jason looked for and didn't find a name anywhere. Not that he would know the artist, but he would have made note of the name and investigated it later.

  
Reluctantly he turned away from the painting, figuring he'd ignored Calvin long enough—and nearly collided with him. "Gah! Warn a guy when you sneak up behind him."

  
Calvin just looked at him and did not reply, instead asking, "You like that one?"

  
"Yeah, it's awesome. Reminds me of when my friend Marcus and I used to play outside all the time during the summer. Though my mom killed me whenever I tore my toys up like that."

  
"My mom never really noticed what I did to the wagon," Calvin replied. "Me and Hobbes used to go riding down hills in the forest all the time. I guess she figured it was part and parcel of living where we did."

 

"Hobbes?"

 

Calvin's cheeks turned pink. "Um. The tiger—his name is Hobbes."

  
Jason blinked. "You painted that?" He grinned, "Wow. What else have you done?"

  
"Umm..." Calvin seemed at a loss for words. "Not much," he said quietly, almost bashfully. "Why do you care?"

 

"Uh...I just think it's neat and all. I used to do this kind of thing all the time as a kid. But I was never very good at it. Computers and stuff are more my thing. I always kinda wished I'd been a better artist."

  
Calvin shrugged, "My dad thinks I should've gone into the sciences. He says I won't get very far doing artsy stuff. But my dad is kinda old-fashioned about that sort of thing."

  
"My parents are kind of the opposite. Well, my mom anyway. She's a writer; she gets this confused look on her face whenever I try to talk about my classes. But she thinks it's neat that I understand it. My dad always looks lost and says he has to meet someone for golf." Jason grinned. "My brother and sister just make fun of me, as siblings always do, but I always get revenge."

  
"You have siblings?"

  
"Yeah , one brother, one sister, both of them older. My mom says dad makes four children for her to take care of."

  
That surprised a laugh out of Calvin, and Jason's mind momentarily shut down. Smiles on Calvin were lethal to his brain functions. "My mom mutters stuff like that about my dad occasionally. I think she's happier now that we're both out of the house a lot."

 

Jason nodded. "I know my mom is relieved we're all starting to lead our own lives now. I'm the last one to go."

 

"I'm an only child, so I'm the only one they had to get rid of." Calvin abruptly turned and headed toward the desk, grabbing something from a drawer before striding to the window. Binoculars, Jason realized as he caught up.

 

"What are those for?"

 

Calvin adjusted the view, twisting so that he could look down the street. "I'm checking to see if the meatheads are waiting for me."

 

"Are they?"

 

"Yeah, and they look pretty cozy. I think they've figured out that I just hang around until they're gone or I get bored waiting. It's getting to be a contest, really."

 

Jason's brows lifted at that. "What's the longest you've waited here?"

 

Calvin lowered the binoculars and looked at him. "During the summer I usually get stuck up here until about two or three. Once they waited until four."

 

"In the morning?" Jason asked, stunned.

 

"Yeah." Calvin's look said 'duh.'

 

"Why don't you just take a different route?"

 

Calvin shrugged. "There is no different route. I live in that house where they hide in the bushes. And there's no real back way, it's up against the wall of another building. I have to go by those bushes to get home, and they jump me every single time."

 

"So you're just going to stay here all night?" Jason asked, dumbfounded.

 

"Yes," Calvin replied, voice curt, shoulders hunching defensively.

 

Jason made a face. "That's a lousy plan."

 

"I suppose you have a better idea?"

 

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do." Jason pulled out his phone again, and quickly related the problem to security. He flipped the phone closed and stowed it in his pocket. "See? Much easier?"

 

Calvin didn't say anything, just glared at him and then stalked back across the room to get his things.

 

"Hey! You could at least say thanks."

 

"For what? Causing me more problems?" Calvin paused in the doorway, looking as if he might say something more, but then just shook his head and vanished.

 

By the time Jason was able to follow him, Calvin was gone. "Damn it." He fidgeted with his glasses before donning his winter gear and settling his bag on his back. Heaving a sigh, he exited the building and slowly trudged his way back to his apartment.

 

Rather than go inside, however, he bypassed the window to his place and continued up the fire escape stairs to the roof.

 

He'd had his own place since first semester sophomore year, after the complaints against him had gotten so bad the college had all but thrown an apartment at him.

 

At least now he could experiment without upsetting someone. Even if it did get a little too quiet at times.

 

Jason jumped the last steps and landed hard on the roof, sneakers scraping in the rocks and grime scattered across it. With easy strides, he crossed the short distance to the opposite side of the roof. A dark green tarp had been spread across the top of the roof there, another tarp laid over what appeared to be a small but bulky object.

 

Whipping the tarp off revealed that it actually covered several small somethings—toy rockets that had undergone extensive customization. His first month there, Jason had been paranoid other residents would find them and tamper with his favorite hobby. But by the third or fourth 'incident due to miscalculation' they had all decided it was best to avoid the roof. They'd also decided it was best to avoid Jason, which was why he took the fire escape coming and going.

 

No one there to pretend not to see him. At least they didn't harass him like his dorm mates had.

 

Near the tarp he kept a small box for tools and other miscellany, and from it he pulled a pair of binoculars. Moving to the edge of the roof, he focused them on the Theta Chi house. Though it was going on midnight, there was plenty of light to see by. The campus was never truly dark, especially on Greek Row where the campus officials had seen to it that as many streetlights as possible had been crammed.

 

Slowly, carefully, he analyzed the house through his binoculars, occasionally murmuring aloud as he worked through calculations and formulae in his head. He'd probably write it all out later, for appearance's sake. People seemed more inclined to believe in his "miscalculations" when they could see his work on paper, even if they had no clue as to what they were looking at.

 

He was taking a closer look at the chimney when his cell phone went off. He looked away from the chimney to glance briefly at the screen—and grinned as he returned his eyes to the binoculars. He pushed the call button, "Hello?"

 

"You! You! You—"

 

"Oh, hey Paige," Jason said with feigned surprise. "What are you calling so late for?"

 

" **YOU!** "

 

"Me?"

 

"You hired a _stripper_ for my bridal shower!"

 

"Me? No. Someone called a stripper?" Jason said, sounding shocked and horrified. "Was he any good?"

 

"He was dressed as a _storm trooper_ ," Paige shouted.

 

"Yeah, I had to pay extra for that. Can you believe that's not one of their regular costumes?"

 

"You're _dead_ Jason. Eric's mother nearly had a heart attack!"

 

Jason fought not to laugh. Paige always made it far too easy. "Really? Then you may want paramedics on stand-by for the wedding."

 

"What?" Paige shrieked. "What are you going to do at my wedding? Don't you dare do anything, Jas-"

 

"Gotta go, Paige. Take care. Tell mom and dad hello for me. Love you."

 

"Just you wait, Jason. You are so going to pay for this."

 

"Bye." Jason shoved his phone in his pocket and laughed delightedly, not caring one whit if he woke someone up. He resumed his analysis of the Theta Chi house, triple checking his calculations before returning the binoculars to the box and grabbing his book bag.

 

It would be way too suspicious to do anything tonight. But lunchtime the day after tomorrow or so would be perfect. And oh, what a miscalculation it was going to be. He just needed to double-check a couple of things  and he'd be all set.

 

He lived in a corner apartment on the fourth floor of a rickety old five-story building, with easy access to roof, street and apartment thanks to the fire escape. Reaching the window, he undid the lock he'd put on it and dropped his bag through before sliding inside himself and closing the window behind him. And even though he'd left a table lamp on to avoid coming home to complete darkness, it couldn't spare him coming home to an empty apartment. There was Quincy of course—who was currently dozing on the sofa—but it just wasn't the same. Oh well, he'd get used to it eventually.

 

Immediately to his right as he stood with his back to the window was his desk, made to fit into the corner and half buried by his computer, accessories and various toys and action figures. Crammed between the desk and the door to his bedroom were two bookcases, over laden with textbooks, manuals, games, and comics. More of the same was piled in front of the bookcases and around the desk.

 

In the corner to his left was his TV, with an old sofa, recliner and coffee table from his mom to make up the living room. A small kitchen was beyond that, the front door with a small closet, and the bathroom and bedroom to make up the rest of his apartment.

 

Suddenly feeling the exhaustion he'd been fighting, Jason discarded his parka and dragged himself to the bathroom. After spending nearly half an hour attempting to drown himself in near-scalding water, he felt a bit more revived. A can of soda and several cookies from his mother improved things further, which was a good thing, because no one else was going to pay his rent or for his books and rockets and all the rest. He had programs to write and games to debug, along with way too many papers to grade.

 

*~*~*

  
"Hey, dork! You forgot to wash your dishes again."

 

Calvin narrowed his eyes at the Super Jerk at the far end of the hallway. "I did wash them. This morning."

 

"Well, they're dirty and filling up the sink. I guess maybe they used themselves?"

 

"I washed them. Go find the jerk who used my stuff and yell at him." Mouth tight with anger, Calvin walked toward and then past his housemate—Jeff—just _waiting_ for the jerk to say anything else.

 

He didn't, and Calvin gave a mental sigh of relief as he reached the stairs and headed up toward his room.

 

"Nice bruises, dork." Jeff called after him.

 

Calvin kept his mouth shut, but made sure to slam his door as hard as possible before locking it behind him. "Asshole," he muttered as he began to strip off his gear, throwing the jacket, gloves and hat in the general vicinity of his closet. He plopped into the small chair in front of his desk and opened his computer, skimming through various emails and grimacing at the one from his professor. He turned to sit sideways in his seat, staring without really seeing the painting he was working on in his room.

 

For his art major he had two final projects to replace the classes he should be taking but wasn't because he was in an accelerated program. One project was to be done in sculpture—the snowmen that the Assholes First Class has just demolished. He'd have to work double time now to make up for the loss. Especially as he was going to lose even more of his non-existent free time both avoiding them and exacting revenge. Bastards.

 

His second project was a series of three paintings. The graduating seniors had been assigned the theme of "childhood" for their final projects, so that's what Calvin was stuck doing.

 

Which the other students were bitching about to no end. Calvin felt sorry for them. He'd begun actual painting on two of them—the one in the art building and one he worked on here in his room. The art building one was meant to be nostalgic, an image of some of his favorite things growing up: the tree house where they used to hide and water-bomb poor Susie; the wagon that had taken more abuse than a car in a junkyard, and of course Hobbes. He called it, "The Days are Just Packed."

 

The second painting was meant mostly to be funny, though he wanted people to feel a bit creeped out. It was only just barely begun, mostly just a sketch with some base colors laid in. The image was a close-up of a bed, the sheets and blankets bundled up into a lumpy ball in the top center of the image, with only the barest bit of foot and the tip of a black and orange tail peeking out.

 

Except for a large pair of yellow-green eyes underneath the bed, and a pool of something wet dripping from an unseen mouth. The eyes and the moonlight slinking in through the crack between curtains were the only things not going to be done in blacks, blues and purples. He was calling this one, "Something Under the Bed is Drooling."

 

He hadn't started the last yet, because it was going to be the most difficult. So far it was only a rough drawing in his sketchbook, an image of Hobbes and him running helter-skelter through the backyard with masks, flags and a volleyball, using an old croquet set to construct an obstacle course that had only ever made sense to the two of them. This was also the only painting—the only _anything_ —that showed _his_ Hobbes, the way he'd seen the tiger growing up. "It's a Magical World," was its title.

 

Calvin shifted so he was sitting backwards on the chair, propping his chin on arms folded over the back of it, facing the bed and a small figure propped against the pillow. "So Theta Creeps trashed my snowmen. I really wish it was possible to just feed them to you." He was silent a moment, then said, "True. They probably do taste awful. Like beer and fat. Not very appetizing."

 

Another pause, and then Calvin sighed. "It'll take me forever to redo them all. I was almost done! And I've _still_ got my English finals to work on." He buried his head in his arms a minute, and then looked back up at the bed. "I guess I could just do a joint project—but I don't want to. I want to do the snowmen. I _liked_ the snowmen. Those stupid assholes. Lord knows nothing else could get them to do that much exercise outside a trendy gym. Besides..." he hesitated, "that guy really liked them. At least he said he did." He frowned. "It _means_ that maybe if one person besides my professor likes them, then maybe everyone will. And he liked my painting too." Calvin's cheeks turned pink. "It was cool. He didn't laugh or anything. I kept waiting for it." A pause. "No. I forgot to ask. And it doesn't matter—I'm going to die tomorrow anyway. Professor McCarthy called in sick, and thanks to tonight's stranger calling security on the Theta Creeps _twice_ , I'm probably not going to be alive after class ends. If I make it through class."

 

Calvin grinned suddenly, and it was all mischief and evil intent. "But hey—I can go down with a fight, right?" He sat up straighter, fisting his hands in anticipation. "They've got a booze fest coming up day after tomorrow. They’ll be so wasted and busy tormenting the freshmen they won't notice the destruction to their water and electric until too damn late. I haven't used my power tools once this semester—probably about time I fixed that huh, Hobbes?"

 

He fell suddenly silent, the gleeful grin fading from his face, head falling back down on his refolded arms. "I'm such a loser."

 

*~*~*

 

"Whoa, slippery." Jason rolled his eyes at himself, re-secured his grip on the uneven bricks, and resumed his slow, careful climb up the back wall of the Theta Chi house. An earlier examination had revealed no easier method by which to reach the roof, unless he wanted to try going inside, which was every kind of stupid. Not least of all because he didn't want anyone to know he'd been there.

 

It would severely hamper the credibility of his "miscalculations" tomorrow afternoon to get caught today.

 

But getting caught was about as likely as his being invited inside for a drink. If you weren't at an infamous Theta Chi party, you were hiding somewhere so you could lie later and say you had been. So no one who did happen to see him was likely to say anything. And security had bigger fish to fry than a moron scaling a two-story brick house in the middle of an icy winter night.

 

Well, 23:27. Not quite the middle of the night. And the party was scheduled to end at 01:00, so he didn't have a whole lot of time to waste. Good thing he only needed a few minutes.

 

Jason froze in place as the window beside him rattled and banged, as if someone had fallen or been thrown against it. He waited, sighing softly as the noise ceased, and resumed climbing. Falling now would suck quite a bit, though there was enough snow that he wouldn't really hurt anything. Maybe a few bruises, but he doubted even that.

 

Still, he let out a long sigh of relief when he finally scrambled up onto the roof. "Halfway there. The things I do to exact revenge, I swear." He hummed the theme to a zombie movie he'd watched over the weekend as he stepped carefully over the slanted roof, up toward the chimney.

 

His humming faded from song to murmured thoughts as he turned on a flashlight attached to the front of his coat and examined the chimney with eyes and hands. "Hmm…stronger than I had thought it would be. Probably will have to increase…" his voice trailed off as his thoughts raced along, mentally making adjustments to the rockets he planned to use for the venture, altering the calculations he'd made the night before. He paused ah examined the last corner, the left side facing the street. "Bit weaker here…so if I aim…adjust the…hmm…" Satisfied with his findings, Jason slowly made his way back around the chimney and then slowly down the roof toward the place where he'd originally climbed up.

 

The sudden slamming open of the back door startled him, just as he was sliding off the edge of the roof to cling to the wall. With a faint cry of surprise, Jason lost his grip and plummeted down, landing with a hard 'oof.'

 

On something that definitely was not snow. 

 

Something that talked.

 

"Get off me!" Calvin hissed in outrage, though a tinge of fear lurked beneath it.

 

Jason blinked. Blinked again. He pushed himself up on his arms, still hovering over Calvin. "What are you doing here?"

 

"Huh?" Calvin stopped struggling to get free, finally realizing who had come crashing down upon him. "What are you doing here?"

 

"I asked first."

 

"Nothing."

 

"You just like to lay in the snow on Theta Chi's lawn?"

 

Calvin glared. "You're the one who knocked me down."

 

"That's only because—" he was cut off by Calvin's hand on his mouth.

 

Jason frowned behind the hand, but didn't protest as the sound of voices drew near. He dropped back down, until he was flush against Calvin, and they were mostly hidden by the high snow.

 

Calvin's breaths were white puffs of soundless air as they waited unmoving for the two voices to either approach and discover them, or retreat and leave them mercifully undetected.

 

Not that Jason thought he'd be able to move even if they were found. Calvin's bare hands were still warm, as though he'd either just come outside or recently removed gloves. The fingers were slender, calloused in a way that artists' hands usually weren't. And Calvin was really really really close.

 

Anxious, flustered, Jason waited as the voices drifted closer, not hearing the slurred words, only listening for the sounds to go away.

 

Which, at last, they did, as the Drunken Theta Jerk convinced his girlfriend to go back inside. Jason sighed in relief behind Calvin's fingers.

 

Calvin jerked his fingers away like he'd been burned, and Jason was forcibly reminded as to their positions and scrambled madly to stand.

 

He'd barely moved away when Calvin rose, retrieved a large, black plastic case from the snow and took off like a shot across the backyard and through the hedges that lined the end it, cutting through to a quieter street of student housing.

 

Jason dashed after him, both of them moving until they were well away from the Theta Chi house. Panting, Jason reached out and snagged Calvin's wrist—but immediately let go when Calvin whirled and tried to jerk away. "Sorry! Just wanted you to stop. Man, you can really book it when you want. I walk fast but damn—I almost had to run to keep up with you. So what were you—" Jason stopped, and frowned, finally getting a close look at Calvin. "What happened to you?"

 

"Nothing," Calvin said sullenly, and turned to continue on down the street. He spun around and jerked away as Jason again latched onto him—by the upper arm this time. "Leave me alone!"

 

"Okay. Sorry." Jason frowned. "I just wondered why you were around the Theta house. Is that why you have more bruises?"

 

Calvin shrugged, and responded in a mutter almost too low to hear. "They got me this morning before class. I was going to get them back tonight." He hefted the case, which was obviously heavy, but said nothing more.

 

"But why'd they get you? Just because I…oh…" Jason looked abashed. "They got you because I called security on them twice." He ran a hand awkwardly through his hair and fidgeted with his glasses. "I'm sorry."

 

"It's okay," Calvin said, looking at Jason in mild surprise. "They probably would have just found another excuse if you hadn't called. I'm used to it."

 

"Why do you let them do it?"

 

Calvin stiffened and once more tried to leave.

 

"Wait! Come on," Jason sounded desperate and aggravated. "Why do you keep trying to rush off?"

 

"Why should I stay?" Calvin asked, looking and standing utterly confounded.

 

"Ah…" Jason looked briefly confused. "Don't you want to know why I was on the roof?"

 

Calvin blinked. "Oh, yeah. Why were you on the roof?"

 

"Come with me." Jason grinned. "I'll show you. It's kind hard to explain without being able to show you."

 

"Umm…"

 

" _Please?_ " Jason hoped he didn't sound as desperate as he thought he did. But he couldn't help but think—okay, hope—that Calvin might be a kindred spirit. Probably wishful thinking, but it couldn't hurt. Or at least, he was used to the hurt when he proved to be wrong, but someday he was bound to be right, right?

 

"….Okay. I guess." Calvin set the case on the ground and dug in the pockets of his ski jacket and pulled out gloves, which he quickly donned. Retrieving his case, he stood looking at Jason, brown eyes intent.

 

"Uh, right," Jason half-muttered, suddenly remembering he was supposed to be leading the way and not staring at Calvin. He crossed the street as a car passed, cutting through yards to reach the main street, where they could walk straight to the back of his apartment building.

 

*~*~*

 

Calvin followed him in silence, biting his lip in thought as he regarded the lanky figure in front of him. He had the build of someone who spent most of his time in doors, but wasn't a complete vegetable. Which was interesting, because the guy struck him as a computer-type geek. He blinked, suddenly stopping. "Umm…hey."

 

The other man stopped, and turned. "What's up? We're almost there, promise. It's just a block more."

 

"What's your name?"

 

The man laughed, the sound of it especially loud in the dead, cold night air. "Jason Fox."

 

"Oh." Why did that name sound familiar?

 

"Nice to meet you," Jason beamed. "Now come on—I'm cold."

 

Calvin smiled. "It's not that bad out here."

 

Face going pink, Jason muttered, "this way."  He hesitated as they finally reached the building but finally headed inside.

 

He opened the front door and flicked on the lights. "It's not much. And really, what I want to show you is on the roof. I just figured you'd like to set your stuff down."

 

"Do you have any roommates?" Calvin looked around the room, hoping his envy wasn't apparent. "This place is awesome."

 

Jason smiled hesitantly. "You think so? It's not much…my mom gave me the furniture and fixed it up so I couldn't 'do too much damage'." He rolled his eyes. "She's still upset about the last time she gave me furniture."

 

"What happened last time?" Calvin asked.

 

"Uh…" Jason adjusted his glasses. "I got carried away with an experiment and wound up setting it on fire. That was in high school, when they bought me a new bedroom set. It…" he grinned sheepishly. "The bed's still okay—I've got it now. But the dresser and nightstand didn't make it."

 

Calvin grinned. "Which one did you set on fire?"

 

"The dresser." Jason grimaced. "The nightstand was a victim of super glue and Paige's cashmere sweater. She's _still_ mad at me for that one. Even though I give her one for Christmas every year now."

 

"Paige? A sister?"

 

"Yeah. A few years older—she's getting married soon." Jason heaved a long-suffering sigh. "She's more impossible than ever to live with. I hope Eric—her fiancé—is up to the challenge." He grinned. "And resigned to the fact that I'm not going to stop tormenting her."

 

Calvin almost smiled. "Sounds like the way I used to terrorize Susie and Rosalyn."

 

"Who are they?" Jason moved away from the entryway, leading Calvin to his living room. "Want something to drink?"

 

"Nah, I'm fine." Calvin hesitated, but seeing Jason strip off his winter gear, gladly followed suit. "Susie's a girl I grew up with. She goes to school up in Clarington."

 

"The girl's school?" Jason shuddered. "That place is terrifying."

 

"That would explain why she fits in so well," Calvin said dryly. "She's the Princess of Terror."

 

"Not the Queen?"

 

"No—that would be Rosalyn. She was my babysitter growing up." Calvin's eyes grew distant, as he relived memories. "We used to do our damnedest to kill each other, I swear. I was terrified of her." He grinned briefly. "And I was definitely the most troublesome child she ever had the misfortune to babysit."

 

Jason laughed in delight, collapsing next to Calvin on the couch. "That's awesome. Usually Paige or Peter—my brother—got stuck watching me, and that's not as much fun as terrifying a total stranger. Oh—but my friend Marcus has four sisters. We used to terrorize them from time to time."

 

"Marcus?"

 

"Yeah, he's my best friend. Going to an IT school on the west coast." He rolled his eyes. "Mostly because his girlfriend is going there for school. But he says he likes it so…" Jason shrugged.

 

They fell silent, neither quite sure where to go from there.

 

"So what did you want to show me?" Calvin asked at last.

 

"Oh! It's up on the roof." Jason jumped up, glad to have something to do, and grabbed a hooded sweatshirt before heading toward the window. Flinging it open, he grinned back at Calvin before clambering out and leading the way up the steps, their footsteps sharp and ringing against the all-but-frozen metal stairs.  "This way." He crossed the roof and stopped before the tarp, flinging it back with a flourish.

 

"Oh, cool!" Calvin crowed, dropping to his knees to get a closer look.

 

Jason noticed he hadn't bothered to put his jacket back on. "Aren't you cold?"

 

"Huh?" Calvin looked up, not really paying attention. "No." He turned back to the rockets. "They look…different. Did you do something to them?"

 

"Yeah." Jason kneeled next to him and launched into an elaborate explanation on his modifications, explaining each aspect of the half dozen rockets. He seemed oblivious to Calvin's occasional looks of confusion.

 

"Wait ," Calvin interrupted, shaking his head. "Are you saying you can blow stuff up?"

 

"Yeah, but it's really not too much stronger than a really good firecracker or something. You know—small stuff. Mostly just for show."

 

Calvin nodded, seeming unfazed. "So how does this relate to Theta Chi?"

 

"I was going to direct a couple at their chimney. It's already pretty damaged, a couple of good hits and the whole thing will just topple—really someone should have had it taken care of a long time ago."

 

"That's why you were on the roof?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"But…" Calvin looked at him, and barely a foot apart Jason found it more difficult than normal not to just sit and stare. "Why are you doing this?"

 

Jason scowled. "To get them back for the snowmen—and those bruises. Especially as those bruises are my fault. I was going to send one rocket but now I think I'll send two. That'll scare the living daylights out of all of them."

 

Rather than looking pleased, Calvin glowered. "You don't have to get my revenge for me."

 

"Look—it's my fault you got hurt, and I'm taking responsibility. Sort of. Besides I have a long list of transgressions against Theta Chi. I've just never bothered to _do_ anything because it was only stupid small stuff. Now I have a good reason." His stupidly distracting grin returned."Or you could just say it's a good excuse to play with my rockets. The latest modifications need testing."

 

Calvin nodded slowly. "When are you going to do it?"

 

"Probably around lunchtime tomorrow."

 

"After lunch—there'll be more people in the house." Calvin looked serious for all of three seconds, before he broke out in the grin that had gotten him sent to the principal's office more times than he could count.

 

Jason loved it, and rubbed his hands gleefully. "Good point. Do you want to come over here and launch them with me? Or be closer to the house to see the chaos firsthand?"

 

"I think I'll just come here, and bring my binoculars."

 

"Cool." Jason rose. "Now let's go back inside—it's freezing out here."

 

Calvin laughed. "I should be heading home anyway—early classes and I've still got papers to grade."

 

"Me too. Do you teach a lot of classes?" Jason swung inside, and closed the window after Calvin followed. He dropped onto the couch.

 

"Most of my course work is independent study," Calvin said with a shrugg. "So I help teach the freshmen and sophomore art classes to fill up time and get some extra credits in. Even my English classes are mostly independent study now—the only one that's not is the writing class."

 

Jason nodded. "So you're a double Art and English major?"

 

"Triple," Calvin replied, face flushing. "Though it's pretty easy to manage both Art and Art History. What about you?"

 

"Ah…" Jason suddenly looked like he wished he was anywhere else in the world, and stared at the wall as he replied, "I'm actually working on my MA right now. I finished my BA's sophomore year. That's why I help teach so many classes."

 

Calvin stared, and all of a sudden the reason Jason's name was familiar clicked into place. "I've heard of you! My one housemate, Jeff, is always griping about you. You’re the, uh…" he fumbled to a halt.

 

"I know what they call me," Jason said with a sigh. "I think most of them are still mad about my blowing up the lounge freshman year. They maintain I did it on purpose, even though officially it's an accident."

 

" _You_ did that?" Calvin gaped. "I remember I went to take a look at the place one night, and I couldn't figure out how it was done. Man, the guys in my dorm that year wouldn't shut up about it. You really did that? Did you also start that fire in the cafeteria?"

 

"Erm…" Jason was torn between being proud and being mortified. "The cafeteria wasn't me. I just always wound up destroying wherever I was living. And I might have caused some minor damage to one of the labs—though that wasn't entirely my fault." He motioned to the apartment. "That's why I live here. They wanted me out of the way."

 

Calvin frowned, "But what about tomorrow? Won't the rockets get you in trouble?"

 

"Nah—it'll just be and accident." He winked. "I'm always miscalculating stuff."

 

"I see," Calvin replied.

 

They both fell silent. Calvin slowly climbed to his feet and fetched the case holding his tools. "I guess I should get going. I'll see you tomorrow?"

 

"Yep," Jason said, wishing he could think of a reason for Calvin to stay—not that he knew what they'd do, but still. "Want to meet for lunch first?"

 

"Ah—sure." Calvin hoped his cheeks weren't as red as they felt. But no one had ever asked him to lunch before. Least of all a cute mad scientist.

 

Jason grinned. "Cool. Then how about at the snack bar? Say 12:30?"

 

"Okay." Calvin paused, undecided, then opened the window and climbed out. "Bye."

 

On the street, he chanced a glance back—face going hot when Jason waved at him. Waving hastily in reply, Calvin then shoved his hands into his pocket and hastened off.

 

It was only when he reached his room that he realized he'd left his tool case behind. But he'd be seeing Jason again soon, he could retrieve it then.

 

The thought shouldn't make him smile so much. Every time he got his hopes up, they crashed and burned.

 

But he was still smiling as he crawled into bed and fell asleep drooling on Hobbes.

 

*~*~*~*

 

"How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?"

 

Jason looked askance at Calvin. "What?"

 

Calvin gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

 

"What was that?"

 

"Something stupid I came up with as a kid. I say it when I'm thinking sometimes; I didn't mean to say it aloud."

 

Jason grinned. "How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored? That is fun to say. Not a very good tongue-twister though."

 

"Yeah, that's why I keep it to myself." Calvin turned back to his binoculars, cheeks pink.

 

Jason watched him for a few moments before raising his own binoculars.

 

"When do you suppose they'll figure out we did it?" Calvin asked. Through the binoculars they watched the mixture of angry, confused and too hung over to care Theta Chi brothers scramble to figure out and fix whatever was wrong with their chimney.

 

Or what was left of it anyway. The old brick had blown out just the way Jason had calculated—though Jason _hadn't_ counted on a portion of the roof going as well. "I think Jerk Wad #1 just found bits of the rockets."

 

"Yeah, I think you're right…" Calvin frowned. "What's he doing with it now?"

 

Jason shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe keeping it from Security and Housing? To take matters into their own hands?"

 

"Do you think they'll pin it on you?"

 

"Nah," Jason said breezily. "The Theta Creeps aren't that smart. They'll probably forget all about it after their weekend booze out."

 

Calvin lowered his binoculars. "That was pretty sweet. Where do you get the supplies? I didn't think it was possible for toy rockets to cause that much damage."

 

Jason started laughing. "Marcus and I refined the art of Model Rocket Destruction growing up. Between my father and I, it was no wonder the paramedics knew us all by name. They used to send us Christmas cards…"

 

 "I'm impressed. All the times I almost broke my neck going off ridges and crashing into brooks and my parents never had to call the paramedics. Even the one time when my sled wound up in the tree…"

 

"If your painting is anything to go by," Jason replied with a wink, "I'd say your wagon and tiger took the brunt of the beatings."

 

Calvin's cheeks went red. "Yeah, Hobbes did need more than a few stitches over the years." He shot his book bag a quick, guilty glance, then shook his head and lifted his binoculars.

 

Jason watched him, far more interested in Calvin than in the temper-tantrum Theta Chi was throwing. "So what are you doing the rest of the day?"

 

Calvin shrugged, not looking at him. "Probably study some, then paint later tonight."

 

"Do you like sledding?" Jason asked.

 

"Sledding?" Calvin couldn't keep the eagerness from his voice, turning to look at Jason. "Yeah! I used to go to the hill on the other side of Ridge park, until…" he trailed off.

 

"Until?"

 

"Until some other guys found the place and took it over." He looked out unhappily at the snow. "It really was a good hill."

 

"There's a better one about thirty minutes from here, a mile or so past the fairgrounds."

 

Calvin shook his head. "Too far of a walk. I generally stick to places nearby."

 

"Benefits of a paranoid mother who doesn't like the idea of me being stuck and forced to rely on public transportation when it's time to be home for important dates." Jason winked again. "Want to go? I caught up on most of my work last night, so if you've got some free time…"

 

"Uh…sure." Calvin gave him a quick smile, seeming horribly uncertain as to whether it was okay to be enthusiastic. "I'll have to go get my things from my room and drop my bag off."

 

Jason was putting the tarp over the remaining rockets and stowing his binoculars. "Sure thing. Help me grab my stuff and then we'll go get yours."

 

"Sure."

 

Barely able to contain his excitement, Jason dashed for the stairs and his room.

 

Several minutes later they were outside Calvin's dorm, loading his stuff in the back of Jason's car.

 

"Damn," Calvin said looking the passenger seat. "Forgot to put my book bag away. Gimme a sec?"

 

"Yeah, sure." Jason said, still fighting to fit the sled in just so, barely noticing when Calvin ran back toward his room.

 

Nor did he notice the crunch of tires in the snow until he heard the new arrivals talking. "Nice bag, loser."

 

"Give it back," Calvin said in his 'I'm small but I'll try to take you anyway' voice. "What are we in, grade school?"

 

"Yeah, I guess we are." The speaker was one of the two who had trashed Calvin's snowmen the other night, but his gaze was fastened on Jason as he turned around. "Only kids play with rockets."

  
Jason let out a hiss of dismay.

 

"You're just pissed because now Security is going to find all the stuff you're not supposed to have." Calvin barely danced back out of the way as a second Theta brother made a grab for him.

 

The first one ignored them and rifled through the front pocket of Calvin's book bag, pulling out a paperback and small sketchpad. "What's this?"

 

"A book," Calvin retorted. "I doubt you know how to use it."

 

"You're probably right," the brother said with a shrug. He dropped it into the slushy muck accumulated at the curb. The sketchbook quickly followed. The he opened the main section of the book bag.

 

Calvin began to look slightly panicked. "Give it back."

 

"Aw…" the brother grinned and looked at his companion. "Look at what we've got here." He pulled out a small, faded and threadbare stuffed tiger. Its plastic eyes were scratched, most of its soft nose worn away. 

 

"GIVE HIM BACK!" Calvin snarled, blindly launching himself at the man holding his book bag and tiger.

 

Grinning, the Theta dropped the book bag and tossed the tiger to his friend, gleefully getting into a tangle with Calvin.

 

"Oh, shit…" Jason scrambled to help, cringing inwardly at the idea of getting into a fight.  He didn't do so well with direct violence.

 

The second Theta didn't give him a chance to help, and in what seemed like mere seconds Jason found himself struggling just to avoid a broken face.

 

All of a sudden the pummeling and yanking and knocking against snow and muddy ground ceased, and he looked up to blurrily see why it had stopped. He struggled to sit up.

 

His vision was blurry—where had his glasses gone?—as he looked up and saw the Thetas being hauled away by campus security. "Shit!" Jason fell back into the snow with a groan. "I'm in such deep shit now." He turned his head to look for Calvin, who was little more than a blurry ski jacket with a blonde tip. Jason frowned, swearing he could hear Calvin crying.

 

The officers helped them to their feet, as roughly as possible. "I hope you lot thought this fight was worth it. Jason, I thought you were smarter than this."

 

Calvin fought off the burly man helping him and launched himself at the Thetas again. "Give him back to me! Assholes, give him back!" The officer pulled him roughly away and toward a second SUV that had arrived. "Let me go! I want Hobbes!"

 

Frowning, Jason squinted and looked around in the snow. "Give me a second, Officer?" he smiled politely at the remaining security guard.

 

The officer glared at him. "A second for what? You're in enough trouble already, Jason."

 

"I need my glasses. I can't see all that great without them."

 

"And yet you think you can find them?"

 

Jason shook his head, "No. I've got a spare set in my car."

 

"Where?"

 

"Glove compartment, in a black case."

 

The guard held out a hand. "Give me your keys."

 

Jason handed them over, and waited until the security officer was rifling through his car before rapidly crossing the wrecked field to snatch up the stuffed tiger half buried in the snow. He stuffed it under his parka, ignoring the Thetas glaring at him from inside the SUV. "Can I go with Calvin?" he asked when the guard returned with his glasses. "I don't trust the Theta Creeps."

 

"It takes more than one for a fight," he replied tartly. "I really didn't think fighting in the street was your style, Jason."

 

"It's not," Jason muttered.

 

"Get in the car," the guard snapped. "And you'd better have a damned good explanation for all this."

 

Sighing, Jason obeyed. Climbing into the backseat beside Calvin, he waited until they were moving before opening his parka and quietly handing over the stuffed tiger with a smile, attempting to lighten the gloomy, defeated expression on Calvin's face. "Hobbes said he didn't much care to be left in the snow, and that he wanted to see you get in trouble."

 

Calvin looked startled, staring from Jason to the tiger and back again. His face had a 'boys don't cry' expression, before he gave Jason a smile that was hesitant but happy and sweet, despite their dire circumstances. Jason had never seen a smile like it. "That sounds like something Hobbes would say."

 

Dazzled, Jason spent the trip to the Dean's office staring at Calvin, who clung to his tiger like it was all he had to hold onto.

 

*~*~*

 

"Somebody, somewhere, loves us very much." Jason dropped onto his couch, glad to get off his rubbery legs.

 

Calvin remained standing, as if now that he was inside Jason's apartment, he could not remember how to walk—or even move.

 

"Seriously. I need to go offer my thanks and a sacrifice to some god, because I didn't think there was anyway I was getting out of that office without a suspension—or expulsion."

 

Instead of commenting, Calvin headed mutely for Jason's kitchen. Jason listened curiously to the rattling and fumbling, but was too tired and in too much pain to force himself up off the couch.

 

Calvin reappeared a moment later, sitting next to Jason and handing him some aspirin.

 

"Thanks," Jason swallowed the medicine with the glass of water Calvin handed him. "How do you take a beating like that and not say a damned thing? You don't seem to be in pain."

 

"Practice," Calvin said mildly. "Lots and lots of practice." He stared at Hobbes, whom he'd propped in the recliner. "I always got harassed in school—from first grade on up. This one bully harassed me for years before someone finally did something about him." He shrugged. "You learn how to block the worst of it."

 

Jason didn't know what to say. "Why didn't anyone ever help you?"

 

"Because I was a monster. I still am, really. Susie is the only one I get along with back home. Hobbes…" he paused. "Hobbes was my only friend. And I got into fights even with him sometimes." Calvin still had not taken his eyes off the tiger, cheeks going pink again.

 

It was really cute the way he did that. "I can't imagine you won very often, going up against a tiger."

 

Calvin looked at him, startled.

 

"What?" Jason grinned. "I've heard of weirder things than getting into fights with a stuffed animal." He rolled his eyes. "At least you didn't help your pet iguana masquerade as a private eye. Seriously, it's no wonder my family thinks I'm mental."

 

Calvin's lips curved in the ghost of a smile. "I bet you didn’t lock yourself in your school locker."

 

Jason quirked a brow, "I'm impressed. Let's see…I bet you never got chewed out by government officials and the local news station for reporting aliens."

 

"No, but I'm still living down the noodle incident."

 

"The noodle incident?" Jason grinned, eyes bright behind his glasses. "Dare I ask?"

 

Calvin shook his head. "I _really_ don't like to talk about it."

 

"Fair enough." Jason yawned and stood up before he could do something stupid. He'd had enough beatings for one day. "Hungry? We can either order pizza or eat the eggplant stroganoff my mother sent me. Please don't pick door number two."

 

Calvin's face scrunched up. "Eggplant stroganoff? Please tell me that's not from '101 Ways to use Eggplant'?"

 

Jason's eyes bugged out. "You mean there's someone else who's had to eat that crap?" He dropped back down, hand covering Calvin's on the couch. By accident, really.  "Is your mom a health nut too?"

 

"No," Calvin laughed, not seeming to notice his hand was being almost sort of held.  "Just crazy and a terrible, awful, horrible cook."

 

Jason had only kissed three people in his entire life—two girls and one guy. None of them had gone over well, so he'd given it up as something else he'd never be good at. Outside of computers, math, and causing trouble, it didn't seem like he was good for much of anything. But the smile from the SUV was still fresh in his mind and hearing Calvin laugh was the last straw.

 

So Jason decided that one more stupid thing in a long line of stupid things really couldn't make his day much worse, and leaned forward and pressed a quick, shy kiss to the corner of Calvin's mouth. Full on the lips would have been better, but he was sort of panicky.

 

"Wha…" Calvin blinked. His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. "You…did you…?"

 

Jason pulled away. "Umm…"

 

"Why did you do that?" Calvin asked, looking so thoroughly confused Jason wanted to kiss him again and again and again.

 

"Because I have really been wanting to for a long time," Jason replied, daring to be honest.

 

Calvin just stared, looking even more confused. "Oh."

 

Feeling brave—stupid?—again, Jason leaned forward and repeated the gesture. Of his three previous tries at this, the first girl had given him a polite no, the second girl had laughed, and the one guy had stopped talking to him. Calvin wasn't doing any of that. Jason took it as a positive sign.

 

When he pulled away, smiling despite the bruises on his face, Calvin's entire face was red.

 

"Okay?" Jason asked.

 

Calvin replied, "Su-Susie tried that once. Neither one of us liked it much."

  
Jason frowned. "Please don't tell me a girl kisses better than I do."

 

"I don't know. I've only kissed one girl and I just told you we didn't like it."

 

"So…" Jason was confused. "Are you telling me to stop or do it again?"

 

"Definitely not stop. I dunno. Never done this before. I'm a loser remember? There's exactly zero people lining up to kiss the weirdo who spends all his life in the art building and regularly gets beat up by Theta Chumps."

 

Jason seriously, _seriously_ doubted there weren't people who would be more than happy to give Calvin something new and different to do in the art building. "Well I'm in line."

 

Calvin smiled, though his cheeks were still flushed.

 

"Do you want to sleep over?" Jason asked in a rush. "I mean—you could sleep on the couch. And we could go to breakfast in the morning?"

 

"Uh—sure." Calvin bobbed his head as if to emphasize he was agreeing.

 

"Cool." Jason bounced up to scrounge up a blanket and pillow and everything before he forgot.

 

"Do you still want to order pizza?"

 

Jason let out what sounded like agreement, as he fought with the contents of his hallway closet.

 

Calvin pulled out his phone. "Know the number?"

 

"On the fridge," Jason said, half-tangled in a blanket. "I need to clean this closet, I think."

 

Calvin snickered. "What do you want on your pizza?"

 

"Pepperoni," Jason managed, ducking a stray box that had jumped off the shelf to attack him.

 

Calvin wandered back toward the couch as he ordered, glad to have the distraction of ordering food to keep him from wigging out about other things. Without thinking, his fingers strayed to his lips, and he knew he was probably blushing again but he couldn't help it. Pizza ordered, he hung up and dropped down onto the couch, staring at Hobbes across the way.

 

Movement caught the corner of his eye, and he watched as Quincy idly made his way across the living room. The iguana paused to look at Calvin, as if trying to figure out why he was there again. He resumed ambling, slowly climbing up the old recliner. The iguana seemed thoroughly puzzled by the stuffed tiger that had taken his spot, slowly examining the strange item before he seemed to give a sort of shrug and stretched out beside it.

 

Calvin smiled.


	2. Peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is generally the last to know, but not always.

"Oh my god…" Peter said faintly, the words half groan, half awe. "He actually found a clone." Beside him, his sister snorted inelegantly. "A clone? Please, Peter. You can't be that dense." Peter looked at her. "Paige, what are you talking about? Do you see them out there? They're exactly alike." He shuddered, rubbing his arms to ward off a sudden chill. "I see them," Paige said. She gave him a look. "The question is, do you?" "Please speak English; one in this family who doesn't is more than enough." Paige rolled her eyes. "If you can't see the obvious, I'm not going to point it out to you. I'm certain they will soon enough. God, you're an idiot." "I am not!" Peter glared at his sister as she turned away. "What in the hell am I missing?" "I'm going shopping," Paige said, ignoring him. "I'll be back around nine." "Don't you have your own house?" Peter groused. Paige gave him a smirk. "Don't you?" "Not while she's pregnant, I don't," Peter muttered beneath his breath. "Bring back pizza." He winced as outside Jason and his new friend - what was his name? - almost ate fence chasing down a renegade rocket. "And a six pack. Jeez, I thought he was in college now." Paige rolled her eyes again as she grabbed her purse and car keys. "You could just stop watching them." "I can't. It's like watching a train wreck - only worse." "Right," Paige said, shaking her head as she left out the back door. Peter continued to watch his brother and - damn, what was his name? Carl? No. Kevin? Oh! Calvin. To watch his brother and Calvin continue to make attempts to blow up the backyard. It was eerily like the days of his youth. Thank the lord above he now lived well across town and Jason had no interest in destroying his backyard. Though he really wished he'd stop calling in during his shows. He watched, chortling, as Jason tackled his friend to prevent his being creamed by yet another wayward rocket. It was no wonder Jason had been kicked off campus, if that was what he did indoors. He loved his brother to death, but man. Jason did not make it easy to live with him. Peter continued to watch, idly sipping at a can of soda, as Jason and Calvin remained on the ground. They must be really worried about that rocket. In the next instant, he was choking on his soda, tears blurring his vision as it burned in his nose. That was not hiding from a rocket. Jeez, Jason was a Supreme Geek. Where'd he learn to do that? Peter yanked the dining room curtains shut and stalked into the living room. "No damn wonder she was laughing at me…" He clicked on the TV, searching for anything containing scantily clad women to erase unwanted images. Because love his brother as he did, he did not need an image of Jason making out with his "friend" in the backyard where he and Denise used to make out on the rare occasion the house was empty. Several minutes later, right in the middle of an old rerun of Baywatch, the sound of the back door slamming and two young men laughing broke the happy oblivion Peter had achieved. He couldn't help but notice that they held hands until they reached the living room. "You two should really get a room next time," he said casually. Jason grinned. "You were watching us so avidly, I thought we'd give you a good show." Peter set his soda down before he hurt himself again. "Yeah, yeah. I didn't know you were causing mass mayhem with your boyfriend. You kinda failed to mention that part." "Boyfriend?" the two said together. Jason looked at Calvin, Calvin looked at Jason. "Uh, yeah. I hear that's what they call it. Unless you're more the fling sort." Jason blinked. "Never really thought about it. We just…hang out." He looked at Calvin, still blinking and looking dazed. Peter realized it was time for him to leave. "Mom and dad will be back around eleven, but Paige will be back around nine." Grabbing his keys from the coffee table, Peter vanished out the back door. He shook his head, wondering how he could have been so damned oblivious. The way those two had looked at each other - Peter knew that look. It guaranteed Calvin would be around for a long, long time if Jason had anything to say about it. He shook his head and grinned as he pulled out of the drive, catching sight of the two men kissing for all they were worth in the middle of the living room.


	3. Calvinball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason is learning to play Calvinball. It's hard playing against the creator, but he's got a few tricks of his own.

“Strip zone!”

“What!” Jason screeched, freezing in place.

Calvin grinned, simultaneously ridiculous and threatening in his black eye mask. Utterly appealing in his tight red tank top and perpetually messy hair. He held the volleyball like a weapon. “You have to lose a piece of clothing every round until you find your way out of it.”

Jason glared behind his own mask. “This isn’t a strip zone!”

“It is if I say it is.”

“Damn it!” Jason was torn between grinning and groaning. “How did I let you talk me into this?”

Calvin smirked. “Quit stalling and lose the shirt.”

Jason sighed and stripped out of his t-shirt. He thought about making a crack about not seeing strip zones in the rule book, but there was no book because there was only one rule:

You’re not allowed to play Calvinball the same way twice.

And, of course, Calvin had a much better grasp of the general chaos he’d invented.

“Did you have a strip zone when you played with Hobbes?”

Calvin paused for a moment, still a bit thrown every time Jason mentioned Hobbes so casually. Then he laughed. “And why would I want to see that damned tiger naked? No, no.”

“What’s the score?”

“Master to Newbie. Your play.”

Jason nodded, then started running – two seconds later Calvin figured out Jason was running at him and with a yell started fleeing. Back and forth across the maze of croquets wickets and other maltreated sports equipment, scoring points and losing them, crossing into and out of zones in a storm of chaos that made sense only to Calvin.

With a triumphant cry, Jason tackled Calvin, both of them landing with an oomph in the ground – barely missing a misshapen wicket.

“Wow, you actually caught me. Must be gaining some muscle or something, geek boy.”

Jason laughed, wishing it were true. But he was panting rather heavily, and Calvin seemed barely affected. “You were just laughing too hard.” He reached out to grab the mask that had come loose when he’d tackled Calvin. “You lost your mask. I think that’s a chastity penalty.”

“A what?” Calvin looked surprised, which pleased Jason immensely. Maybe he was getting the hang of this game after all.

“Chastity penalty.” He levered himself up. “For the next Z rounds.” He sauntered back into the middle of the playing field. “My turn right? Am I still in the strip zone?” Tossing a very pleased-with-myself grin over his shoulder, Jason toed off his sandals and then his shorts. He picked up the discarded volleyball, tossing it in the air over and over while waiting for Calvin.

Calvin looked at him. “I never should have taught you this game.”

“But I’m having fun!”

“Good, because last one to the power wicket has to jump into the pond!” And he took off like a shot.

“Hey!” Jason dropped the volleyball and chased after, but this time he was no match – when he reached the red-painted wicket, Calvin was standing their waiting like a very smug cat. “No fair.”

“All is fair in Calvinball,” Calvin replied, then wrapped his arms around Jason’s waist and kissed him hard.

“Hey – chastity penalty.”

“Power wicket can clear any one penalty of the person who tags it.”

Jason thought for a moment. “You’ve never done that before?”

“No.” Calvin looked offended.

“Okay, then.”

“Exactly.” Calvin kissed him again. “And you still have to jump in the pond.” A grin. “And you’re still in the strip zone.”

“How come I’m in the strip zone and you’re not?”

Calvin laughed. “Because once a zone is entered, it’s cleared for all other persons.”

“Right. I’m not walking around here naked.”

“Then there’s going to have to be a penalty,” Calvin replied, clever fingers tracing Jason’s spine, slick on sweat-damp skin.

Jason licked Calvin’s lips, tasting the remains of super blue raspberry bubblegum. “What sort of penalty?”

“You get a choice,” Calvin said. “You can surrender points to transfer to the make-out zone, sing ‘I’m a little teapot’ or go with door number three.”

“Right,” Jason said cautiously. “What’s door number three?”

Calvin pretended to think. “Not really sure. But I think it has something to do with lemonade and perhaps my bed.”

“Right then.” Jason slipped out of Calvin’s arms and at the top of his lungs began to sing, ‘I’m a little teapot.’


	4. Spaceman Spiff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roleplaying nerds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has the teeniest bit of smut in it.

A hand grabbed his wrist and held fast, then Calvin was yanked back and pushed into the wall. He gasped in surprise, but quickly fell silent at the grin on Jason's face. 

"Well, well," Jason said, eyes gleaming with pure mischief as he pinned both of Calvin's wrists to the wall, though the grip was light. "What have we have here? Spaceman Spiff with his guard down."

Calvin grinned in challenge, suddenly glad they'd decided to attend the stupid costume party. Jason had been running late, and had said he'd find him here – this wasn't what Calvin had expected, but he'd gladly go with it.

Not to mention his boyfriend – he had a boyfriend, and it was sort of scary how happy that thought made him – looked rather good. As in he wanted to jump Jason and do naughty things good.

Though, he didn't remember Zorgs looking quite like this in the comic book. Then again, he hadn't yet revealed the Zorg Prince. He could probably modify his designs, cause yeah he liked this version.

He'd have to make Jason wear the costume lots. On most the tight green fabric probably would have looked silly, but Jason was just enough of an outdoor geek that the fabric molded rather nicely. The Zorg symbol was done in gold, right over his heart, and Jason had left his hair kinda messy. His face was mostly hidden by a green half-mask.

Calvin approved.

He realized suddenly that somewhere in the initial surprise he'd swallowed his triple-mint gum. "Zorg Prince, you're no threat to me."

"Oh, no? I seem to have you right where I want you, filthy Spaceman." Jason leaned in closer. "None of your tricks will work, this night. Tomorrow, my mother will feast upon your flesh."

"Ha! No Zorg scum will ever defeat me! You are merely fallen into my nefarious trap!" 

Keeping a straight face was hard, because they really did sound silly – but not so silly that he wasn't painfully hard, thinking of all the evil, evil things he could do to his Zorg Prince.

Leather pants. It had been a mistake to wear them, except he'd seen the way Jason looked at his ass when he'd tried them on. The store clerk had giggled at them, god girls always giggled at them – but he'd bought them.

Licking his lips, Calvin shoved, sending Jason back, pinning him to the opposite wall of the hallway. Jason might like the outdoors, but Calvin loved them. Besides, Spaceman Spiff kicked Zorg ass every day of the week. That put an Intrepid Explorer in damned good shape.

"Are you certain you've not fallen into the trap, Spaceman Spiff?" Jason replied.

Calvin smirked and pressed a bit closer, almost gasping as that brought their cocks together. "Positive."

"Interesting raygun, Spiff," Jason said, and Calvin had to lean in to kiss him to keep from laughing. Oh, chocolate. Calvin freed Jason's wrists to wrap his arms around Jason's neck, tongue sweeping Jason's mouth, tasting chocolate mingled with Jason, a fine combination.

Hands were on his ass, fondling it through the tight leather of his pants – entirely too tight, he was never wearing them again, though it was tempting if they got Jason to act like this – and Calvin suddenly realized he was up against the wall again and those hands were not on his ass but the front.

Then the chocolate-flavored kisses were gone, and he would have pouted except Jason dropped to his knees and started doing evil, evil things to his cock. Calvin bit down on his bottom lip, fumbling at the wall with one hand, sinking the other into Jason's hair.

Oh, man. They were totally in the hallway, and someone else could come upstairs any minute and he'd had no idea Jason would actually go this far.

The hotness of it would likely kill him, if Jason's blowjob didn't kill him first.

He clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming as he came, then pulled Jason to his feet and kissed him hard. There was no trace of chocolate left, but Jason tasted even better than ever – like sex, like them.

Jason broke away and grinned. "I think I'm winning, Spaceman."

Calvin scoffed. "You've fallen to the hypnotic powers of my raygun."

They stared at each other for a moment, then burst into laughter.

When Jason tugged, Calvin went easily into his arms. "Come back to my evil layer with me, Spaceman?"

Calvin reached down and groped, then grinned. "Are you going to force me to do all sorts of evil things?"

"Very evil," Jason said with a laugh as he dragged Calvin away.


	5. Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zombies and a bribe

"Kill the jerk! Kill the jerk!" Calvin shouted at the movie they were watching, snarling in frustration as the dude who was supposed to be likeable but was in fact an asshole survived yet again. "Argh, why do the stupid jerks always win in these things?"

 

"They're too stupid to die?" Jason asked with a grin, eyes more on the man pressed against him on the couch than on the zombie movie.  He let his free hand wander, fingers tracing random patterns along Calvin's ribs and side, the other propping his own head up so he could see both Calvin and the movie.

 

He loved the way Calvin squirmed just a bit, trying not to show that it sort of tickled, sort of felt nice, and let his fingers wander down to end of the shirt, only to sneak under it and then back up.

 

Then Calvin did squirm, twisting until he'd trapped Jason's hand between their bodies. "I'm trying to watch the movie."

 

"I'm trying to distract you," Jason said with a grin. "Guess which one of us is winning."

 

Calvin somehow how managed to plant an elbow in Jason's ribs before turning back so that he was half facing the movie. The problem, Jason thought, with dating someone as skinny as he was, was that Calvin knew all too well how to inflict harm on a bony person.

 

Like a bony elbow between Jason's ribs.

 

"You're so feisty when we watch zombie movies."

 

Calvin smiled, though his eyes were still on the blonde woman - currently primping in a mirror but somehow not noticing the zombie standing right behind her. "That's because these stupid women always save the day despite the fact that they probably get lost in their own house. _And_ they get the guy. Are all straight men that stupid?"

 

"Maybe they're just that desperate?" Jason asked absently, nibbling at Calvin's ear.

 

"Stop that," Calvin said.

 

"Make me," Jason replied, smirking.

 

Calvin twisted to look at him again, leaning up to kiss Jason hard on the mouth. "I haven't seen this one. How about I bribe you?"

 

"What sort of bribe are we talking?" Jason asked, more interested in the way Calvin's mouth still tasted like popcorn and bubblegum ice cream.

 

"Let me finish watching this movie and then we'll watch Star Wars." Calvin licked Jason's lips, and pulled back smirking.

 

Jason remembered what happened the last time they'd watched his favorite movies. "Consider me bribed."

 

"Good," Calvin said, and turned back around to watch his zombie movie.


	6. Bubblegum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calvin might be a bit of a brat.

Jason looked up from the papers he was grading, looking at Calvin in aggravation. They'd fallen into their usual weekday routine - he at his desk and Calvin on the sofa, both of them grading papers or doing homework.

 

Except that normally it was relatively quiet; just them and occasionally the radio.  This time though…

 

This time Calvin was chewing gum. If he'd done it before, Jason hadn't noticed. Calvin loved gum, chewed it and popped it all the time when they were out. But not usually while they were working.

 

It was driving him crazy, watching that mouth work as it blew bubbles, popped them, snapped the gum. _So_ not helping him grade freshmen papers. "Would you stop that?"

 

"Stop what?"

 

"The gum."

 

Calvin frowned. "What's wrong with my gum?"

 

"It's distracting," Jason said, giving him a look.

 

"Oh." Calvin smiled and blew a bubble.

 

"I have to finish grading these papers, you demon."

 

"Okay, okay." Calvin grinned but swallowed his gum.

 

Jason went back to working, barely noticing when Calvin got up to go to the kitchen - probably for a soda or something. He looked up several minutes later, needing a break - and was torn between gaping and glaring.

 

Calvin was quite happily licking an ice cream cone - bright pink, bubblegum ice cream, his favorite.

 

"I don't like you." Jason settled on glaring.

 

Calvin didn't say a word, merely took a long slow lick of his cone.

 

Jason gave up any attempt to go back to studying, standing up and stalking across the room, straddling Calvin's legs and bending down to taste the ice cream for himself - from Calvin's mouth, what he'd discovered was his favorite way to eat ice cream.

 

Even bubble-gum flavor, which wasn't really his favorite.

 

"You're distracting me on purpose," he said, nibbling at Calvin's lips for any traces of ice cream.

 

"Hey," Calvin said, pushing him away to lick more ice cream from his cone. "I finished all my homework." His eyes glittered in amusement, as he took another long, slow lick.

 

"I _really_ don't like you."

 

"Uh huh," Calvin replied, licking his lips.

 

Jason groaned. "You are so entirely helping me grade papers later."

 

"Sure." Calvin managed with a laugh, as Jason dragged him up and to the bedroom.


	7. Rainy Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old friend and the promise of cookies

"And I thought my dad was weird." Jason stared down the street after the retreating sight of Calvin's father racing away on his bicycle, oblivious to the torrents of rain obscuring the world around them. "He's gonna get himself killed."  
  
Calvin watched his father with a tolerant, rueful smile. "Me and mom figure if he hasn't killed himself by now, he probably isn't going to. 'Sides, he's ridden through worse. You should see him in early winter - man thinks snow is _fun_.  
  
"It is fun," Jason grinned.  
  
"Not for cyclists."  
  
"Cleary for some."  
  
Calvin rolled his eyes as they heard shouting at the intersection. "My dad is insane. I bet we're going to get a call about this."  
  
Jason snickered. "You mean you're not the only troublemaker in the family?"  
  
"I don't think my dad ever noticed that I get my penchant for trouble from him." Calvin shuddered, "Thank god that's all I got." He motioned toward the house, careful to keep the blue umbrella he was holding over both of them as he turned. "C'mon, I've still got to kick your ass on level three."  
  
"You just got lucky," Jason declared. He snaked his arm around Calvin's waist, pinching his side and laughing when Calvin jerked away from it - right into Jason, sending them both stumbling off the sidewalk and into the grass.   
  
Jason collided with a fence and managed to keep them both from the wet ground. He laughed harder at Calvin's face, swiping at his now wet hair. "Umbrella boy, you're not doing your job very well."  
  
"So sorry, sir. I tend to falter when I'm molested."  
  
"That wasn't molestation." Jason leered. "But I can do molestation, if you want."  
  
Calvin rolled his eyes, "Not in front of—"  
  
"Calvin?!"  
  
Calvin winced, "—Satan's house." He looked toward the front door, resigned. "Hey, Susie."  
  
"When did you get home? Why didn't you tell me? Were you going to call or just ignore me? Don't you still have classes? Who's he?" She narrowed her eyes at Jason, who smiled back and gave a small wave.  
  
"Breathe, woman. Jeez. I got home late last night, we were going to come by later this afternoon."  
  
Susie narrowed her eyes, considering and weighing Calvin's words. "It's raining," she said at last.  
  
"You were always so clever, Susy." Calvin beamed as she gave him a withering glare.  
  
Jason tilted his head, examining Calvin's oldest friend with curiosity. She was cute. Brown hair cut into a bob, pulled back from her face with little clips. She wore a long khaki skirt and a tiny pink polo. A watch, gold hoops in her ears, a pink and white beaded necklace. School girl cute.  
  
He was almost jealous. Almost, because _he_ was the one with his arm around Calvin's waist.  
  
Susie spoke with careful patience. "It is raining. You shouldn't be outside. If you'll stop being a brat, Calvin, you and boyfriend are welcome to come inside. Mom just made cookies. Come and stay in the hall while I get you towels." Susie vanished, as if not doubting for a second that her orders would be followed.  
  
Calvin sighed. "Come on, let's go." He winked, "Her mom makes really good cookies, so it won't be too awful."  
  
"Why don't you sound convincing?"  
  
"Because," Calvin said as they stepped inside and stood in puddles of water in the entryway. "You don't chat with Susie over cookies—you get interrogated."  
  
Jason sighed. "Just so long as there are cookies."  
  
"Chocolate chip and oatmeal, smart alecks." Susie said from behind them as she threw a bundle of towels and clothes at Calvin's head. "There are some old clothes of my dad's in there, too. While yours are drying. Hurry up, before your hot chocolate gets cold." With that Susie turned on her heel and left them alone again the hallway.  
  
Laughing, Jason began to change out of his wet clothes. "I thought you terrorized _her_ growing up."  
  
"It went both ways, trust me. She was just more subtle about it." Calvin sighed as they finished drying off and changing, gathering up the towels in one arm and holding Jason's hand with the other as he led the way to the living room.


	8. Study Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason just wants to do his homework.

Calvin stretched out on top of the lab tables, pillowing his head on his arms, facing the ceiling with eyes closed.

"You're laying on my homework."

"It's comfy." Calvin cracked one eye open to look at Jason.

"Sure it is." Jason moved closer, standing beside the table, on Calvin's left. He pulled his glasses off and scrubbed at his eyes. "Get off, I need to finish going over these labs so we can go home."

"Grade them at home."

Jason shook his head. "I take them home, I won't get them done and I've got enough to do over the weekend." He sighed softly.

Calvin reached up, sliding fingers into Jason's hair, tugging him down for a kiss.

"Mmm...." Jason all but melted, arms coming up to rest across whatever of Calvin they could reach. "Is that peach?" he asked, referring to the flavor of gum that lingered in his mouth. He licked Calvin's lips.

"Was drawing earlier..." Calvin kissed him again. "Peaches n' Cream, actually." He squirmed and laughed when Jason tickled him, but the laughs turned to groans as Jason's fingers turned less playful. 

A metallic crash and muffled laughter startled them apart, both turning bright red.

Calvin rolled off the table and curled up on the floor, face buried in his hands.

Jason grinned sheepishly at the girl in the doorway.

The girl grinned back. "I was looking for the chem labs, but if this is what the biology classes get to do then I think I'm going to switch majors."

Jason laughed. "It's for student teachers only."

"Oh, good. I start that next year."

Despite the sharp kick to his shin, Jason laughed all the harder.

Winking, the girl turned and left, pointedly locking the door from the inside as she went.


	9. Gum Code

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calvin has a method to his gum madness, and Jason knows it well.

Calvin loved gum. Jason had seen guys, girls, adults, and kids enthuse and obsess over many things; some were weirder than others and most were far stranger than gum.

Certainly Star Wars and toy rockets had never made him Mr. Popular.

But gum still seemed random. It wasn't that Calvin liked or loved gum that boggled Jason—it was the fact that he was a connisseur. He hadn't known you could be that expert about something that was simply chewed. But it was also perfectly in keeping with Calvin that he liked something so completely frivolous. 

He had every flavor of gum under the sun. If he didn't have it, he knew where and how to get it. Jason had seen a few that weren't even in English. There were never fewer than six packs of gum in his bag at any given time and there were days where Jason had seen twice that.

Not that he had any complaints. Oh, no. It always meant he never knew quite what he was going to get whenever he kissed Calvin.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He knew to a point.

Calvin chewed sour gum when he was in a bad mood, or stressing out over something. Lemon or sour apple or truly tart triple berry. Wow did that one linger on the tongue.

Angry Calvin chewed cinnamon gum like nobody's business. Jason had once watched him kill an entire twenty-four pack in as many hours, after a student had attempted to steal his ideas and then tried to claim Calvin was the one in the wrong.

He preferred fruity stuff when he was working on his art, be it painting or sculpting or other. Fruit punch, strawberry splash, or super watermelon—Jason's favorite.

Classic bubblegum was study gum, and Calvin liked to blow bubbles mercilessly until Jason went crazy and then he finally stopped. The brat.

Sweet flavors were preferred for mischief, especially cotton candy. Jason wasn't quite sure what that meant. He wasn't going to argue though.

Weird flavors were normal Calvin, in a good mood, doing nothing in particular. Blue raspberry and tuiti fruiti, gums with wild colors, strange names and stranger flavors. Those were always interesting.

But mint. Oh, lord did he love and hate it when Calvin chewed mint. Because it was damned difficult to go anywhere near anything mint these days. He was pretty sure he was the only one who knew Calvin's gum code and he knew he was the only one who realized that Calvin only chewed mint—be it peppermint, spearmint, winto-green or some other variation—when he was horny.

Jason had given up gum all together. Chewing it wasn't half so interesting as figuring out which flavor in particular Calvin had at any given moment.


	10. Sirens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason was left unsupervised.

Sirens weren't really that big a deal.

Okay, they were. They usually meant someone was hurt or dying, that somewhere someone was in pain.

But just as often they were some asshole paramedic going to lunch, or a false alarm that did nothing more than wake him up at seven thirty on a Saturday when he'd been sound asleep curled up against...Calvin sat up and blinked.

He was curled up in blankets. That was about it.

Uh-oh.

Throwing off the blankets and climbing out of bed, Calvin snatched up whatever clothes he could find first -- his frog boxers, an old pair of Jason's jeans, his own red t-shirt and after a moment of searching he found a matching pair of flip-flops that he couldn't remember who actually owned.

Sirens. On campus. Even still half-asleep and pining for something caffeinated, Calvin knew what that meant. Jason had been mumbling all night about one of his experiments. Yawning, Calving snagged a black hoodie with something Star Wars on the back and half-stalked, half-stumbled across campus to the cluster of science buildings in the far north corner. When he finally woke up enough, he noticed the smoke -- light gray, thin, nothing to worry about-- trickling up into the air from the general vicinity of the chemistry labs.

And sure enough, there was Jason, rubbing his head and looking sheepish as he explained himself to three professors, two cops, two paramedics and a handful of other PhD students -- probably why it had blown up. Contrary to what most people thought, Jason only blew things up on purpose. But Calvin bet he was letting everyone think it was mostly his fault, since they were used to him, and with Jason they would simply sigh, shake their heads, and ask him to steer clear for a few weeks.

No way would they suspend or expel a man that was every inch of the word brilliant -- even in old, stained with what were probably deadly chemicals jeans and a 'got geek?' t-shirt. Jason brought the university tons of money with his computer and chemistry work, and he was still just a student technically. They'd let him wear whatever he wanted and give him things to blow up just so long as he kept balancing it with all those brilliant, money-making things.

Calvin waited off to the side, quietly relieved that beyond what had happened to his hair, Jason seemed fine. Calvin raked a hand through his own hair and then yawned again. He rifled through pockets, desperate for something to chew on. But he'd grabbed Jason's jeans and hadn't thought to grab anything before--his fingers closed around a familiar-feeling packet and he pulled out what proved to be tropical tuiti-fruiti chewing gum, and remembered when he'd bought it at the gas station and Jason had stolen it and they'd gotten into other things before he'd managed to steal it back. Popping a piece in his mouth, he waited impatiently for his boyfriend to be set free.

A half hour later everyone finally cleared out, and Calvin crossed the field and walked right into Jason's waiting arms, sleepily accepting a kiss, ignoring the way the lingering students stared at them. "It's a little early to be blowing stuff up. And Saturday. Double penalty."

Jason laughed. "Sorry. Breakfast?"

"Coffee. Bed. Glad you're okay. Nice hair."

Laughing again, Jason looped an arm around Calvin's shoulders and led them toward a diner down the road, launching into an animated explanation of the experiment that had gone awry, resulting in a small bang, lots of smoke, and Jason's hair turned bubblegum pink.


End file.
